Chapter 2
Jane made her way towards the elevators for the ride up to the bullpen. She knew her partner, Detective Barry Frost, and her pseudo-partner, Detective Sergeant Vince Korsak, were both already up there. She was going to take some crap from them both for being late. But, considering what it was that caused her tardiness, she decided it was worth a little verbal abuse from the men in her life. If marrying Maura meant waking to mornings like today, she may have to suggest skipping a wedding altogether, elope and head straight to the honeymoon. These kinds of mornings she could get very used to in deed.
Hopping off the elevator, Jane moved towards her desk. True to form, both Korsak and Frost sat chatting. She took a deep breath and stepped into the bullpen to take what she knew was awaiting her.
"Damn Rizzoli, I was going to send out a search party for you," was Frost's first offering.
"I didn't think she was lost but I was considering sending in rescue team to Doc's place to see if you at least had food and water," came from Korsak.
"Ha-ha guys. I'm not that late." A weak defense and she knew it. Maybe they would let it go at that.
"Rizzoli!" She cringed at the sound of her boss, Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh, calling after her. Frost and Korsak snickered and found renewed interest in the folders on their desks. They were of no help to her at the moment. Some partners! "Now that you have come up for air," and he paused for comedic effect, "In my office please."
"Crap!" she mumbled under her breath. Looking at Korsak she asked, "Any ideas? I'm really not that late."
"None I'm afraid," was his only response. He had a hard time containing his grin as his focus returned to his stack of reports.
Jane headed into Cavanaugh's office trying to figure out if he was really mad about her tardiness. Technically she could have taken today off as well considering the Johnston shooting but she was ready to be working again. She was just running late. She hadn't ever had him complain about her work schedule other than him usually having to force her to go home at the end of a long day. She was hoping that might buy her some forgiveness. She entered his office holding her breath.
"Nice of you to join us today Rizzoli," he managed. "Shut the door please," and he gestured first to the door and then for Jane to sit down. He stared at her for a few seconds and just as Jane was about to state her case he broke out into a smile. "Sorry, but you rarely give me a chance to ride you about anything I thought I'd try to make you sweat for at least a second or two. I am glad you are back at it. The Johnston shooting was a clean shoot and it was good to see IA clear you as quickly as they did."
"I'm ready to be back, Sir. I know it was a clean shoot. The guy never gave me an option. Sorry about this morning it just kind of got away from me," she answered and tried not to blush. "It won't happen again."
"Easy Rizzoli. I was just playing. I've never had to worry about your coming and goings. But, don't make it a habit."
"Yes Sir."
Cavanaugh straightened up in his chair and a serious look overcame his face. "Now, I do need to talk to you about something and I need you to understand a few things before I get into any details."
"Sure, anything," she offered now curious about what was going on.
"First, I'm not even suppose to tell you what I'm about to tell you so you cannot tell anyone what you are about to hear. Not yet anyway. That means Frost, Korsak, your brother not even Dr. Isles. No one Jane. I need your word on that before I go one step further."
Jane didn't trust easily. But she trusted Cavanaugh. He had on several occasions proven that he had her back in the field and he was an excellent cop. It didn't take much for her to look into his eyes and state, "You have my word. Anything you tell me stays with me unless you tell me otherwise." Noticing the tension in his shoulders Jane was starting to get a little nervous.
Cavanaugh nodded. "I don't like keeping my detectives in the dark but the brass isn't giving me much choice right now. Rizzoli, stay a detective as long as you can. The politics of this place can be a real pain in the ass." He shoved a few folders around on his desk like that was helping him vent his frustrations with the Command politics Jane had always heard about and never really wanted to deal with.
He looked back at Jane and continued. "Okay, second you are not allowed to do anything with the information I'm about to give you unless and until you have my express permission. You won't even as much as flinch about any of this until we have talked about what I will or won't let you do. All conversations about this will be strictly off the record and by that I mean you and me are standing in the same room with each other when this is discussed as all of this is off limits for mention on any sort of technology. No texts, no emails, no cell phones. Eyeball to eyeball Rizzoli. Understand?"
She had never been given such a direction by Cavanaugh. Understanding enough to realize that whatever was going on was big she merely nodded her agreement and found herself hanging on his every word.
"Alright, I think we understand each other. So now for the bad news. Jane, we may have an issue that could put Dr. Isles in danger."
Jane just stared at him. If he didn't have her full attention before he certainly had it now.
An hour later Jane went to exit Cavanaugh's office. Pausing she turned back, "Sir..." she hesitated for a second. "Thank you." It didn't feel or sound like enough to convey what she was feeling.
"Thank me by not making me regret that I just told you. I'm out on a limb here Jane and I think we both know it. Don't let me down."
"No, Sir," was all she managed.
"Oh and Jane?"
"Yes, Sir?"
"Don't think I don't understand the burden this will be for you. I am sorry for that. If there was any other way right now I'd take it. You are going to have to pull this off without alerting her to anything. I don't envy your task."
She made her way to her desk and Frost pushed his chair over to hers. Her mind was spinning and her hands were shaking. She needed to calm herself before she got busted by Frost or Korsak.
"Man he had you in there forever. Was he really that mad that you were late?"
Jane stared at the top of her desk and didn't say anything.
"Jane?" Frost nudged her.
She snapped to and looked at him. "Um, no. Not too mad. Although I can't really be late again for like, ever."
Frost looked at her and was surprised to hear unsteadiness in her voice. "You ok? What did he want from you?"
Jane forced herself to control her nerves. "I'm good. He just had questions about the Gorning deposition and he wanted a status update on the Johnston case."
"Gorning? That case closed over two months ago. Nice of the DA to stay on top of her case files. Anything we need to worry about on our end?"
Jane quietly shook her head. Clearing her throat she added, "Not really. Just a timeline question but I think it's been figured out now."
Frost pushed his chair back to his desk and started to tackle the stack of reports sitting on his desk. "Maybe we can get away with doing our paperwork two months later."
Jane just shrugged her shoulders. "Don't bank on it." Her gaze fell onto a report in front of her but she found herself not really reading anything. The conversation with Cavanaugh had thrown her and she was having trouble concentrating on anything. She wanted to talk to Frost. To Korsak. But she was ordered not to and she knew that she would have to snap out of her funk quickly otherwise one or both would start asking her questions she was not allowed to answer at this point.
Cavanaugh was right. Politics sucked. She should be mad at Cavanaugh for pulling her into any of this but she was just lucky he trusted her enough to loop her in. He was risking his own career for what he had just told her and what he said he was willing to do. And she knew he was willing to do it for her. Anything involving Maura he understood involved her and it could cost them both their jobs if this wasn't handled right.
Her attention was reined in by the vibrations of her cell phone. She knew before looking it was Maura. Maura. What was she going to do about her? She couldn't tell her this yet either. How was she going to keep something like this from her? Maura usually could read Jane like a book and this was absolutely something that she did not need to know or be a part of right now. Shaking her head she pulled up her phone to see the message.
In serious trouble?
That made her at least smile a little. She thought about playing up the amount of trouble their tardiness had caused but quite frankly she wasn't in that kind of mood.
No
It was short. Too short and she knew Maura would pick up on that. Sure enough within a second of sending her phone buzzed again.
Everything ok?
Jane exhaled loudly. Loud enough for Frost to look over at her and raise an eyebrow. Maura could even read her through a text message. This was not going to be easy. She wanted to share everything with Maura. They had been through so much and she had kept too many things to herself over the years that keeping Cavanaugh's conversation with her a secret felt wrong in too many ways. She had finally found the person she felt she could tell everything to and now she was being forced to conceal something from Maura that even involved her and she didn't like it. The only thing that made her feel even close to ok was that she understood that it was for Maura's own safety and best interest that she remain in the dark about everything for the time being. And there wasn't anything Jane wouldn't do to keep that woman safe. Including withholding information if she had to. Somehow she was going to make this work.
Yes- coffee break?
She at least needed to see her. Maybe seeing her would make this a little better. Just being around Maura usually calmed her down. Her phone buzzed quickly again.
30 minutes?
That would work. She wasn't getting much done with the paperwork anyway.
Meet me down the street. Ma will see the ring and we aren't telling her until tonight
That was the other issue on the table. They needed to tell people they were getting married. She knew she had to tell her mother about the engagement before they could tell others. She wanted to tell her but she just couldn't get herself to tell her at the police station. First, Jane knew her mother would scream so loud at the news that it would alert the entire station in no time at all. She wanted to tell Frost and Korsak on her own and not have a jubilant, screaming Angela Rizzoli as how they found out she had proposed to Maura. Second, her mother deserved to hear this news in a manner better than a quick 'hello, we are getting married oh and can I get a coffee' kind of moment. She loved her mother and knew this was going to make her happy so Jane wanted to have a nice dinner with just her and Maura and they could tell her together. Which was the plan for later that night. Maura, or more specifically Maura's finger, just had to avoid getting seen by Angela until dinner tonight.
See you in 30 XXX
She definitely needed to see her.
"Frost, I'm going down the street for coffee in about 30. Want anything?"
He looked up. "Coffee and a donut would be great."
Jane nodded. She looked over and saw Korsak re-entering the bullpen. "Hey, I'm going for coffee with Maura in about 30 minutes. Can I bring you back anything?"
"The usual would be perfect," he said with a smile. Once Jane nodded her acknowledgement he came closer and leaned up against her desk. "What did Cavanaugh want with you for so long this morning? He couldn't have really been mad at you about being late."
Jane shook her head. "No, he was alright about the lateness but I can't do it again. He just was getting questions from the DA about the Gorning deposition. I guess there is a timeline issue that got confused in two officer's depositions. And then he wanted a status update on Johnston. Truthfully I think it was his way of tormenting me for having the nerve to come in an hour late after having the weekend off." She almost sounded convincing and hoped Korsak wouldn't push anything further. He was the one she really wanted to talk to and at that moment she wasn't really sure of her resolve not to tell him everything. She loved Frost and he was a great partner, but this was all more up Korsak's alley and she knew he would help if he had any idea what was possibly happening.
Korsak didn't pick up on anything unusual from Jane. He nodded his head and reminded her that his request was for the usual for the coffee run. The fact that he didn't notice anything made Jane feel better. She was going to have to keep a tight grasp on her emotions for awhile if she was going to avoid alerting the guys. And it was extra practice for what she would have to do to keep this from Maura.
Thirty minutes later Jane walked over to the café that was down the block from the Boston Police station to meet up with Maura wondering how she was going to get through coffee without telling her everything that she had just been told.
